Community Governance Review

Overview

The LGBCE (Local Government Boundary Commission for England) have been conducting a ward boundary review for West Northamptonshire Council.  The Boundary Commission will publish their final report on 1 August.

For more information about the ward boundary review for West Northamptonshire Council please visit the LGCBE website - West Northamptonshire | LGBCE

These changes will impact on some parish councils whose boundaries, as a result of the review, will no longer align with the wards. If the parish boundary is not aligned with the council ward, this may result in the need for parish wards to be created to enable the election to be conducted in areas which fall outside the council ward boundary.  This can lead to additional expenses for parishes in the conduct of elections.  

Any changes necessary to ensure alignment between parish boundaries and council wards will need to be carried out in the year immediately following the final decision about the Council’s ward boundaries. This is because the next ordinary election for both the Council and parishes will take place in May 2025. 

We are therefore seeking as many requests as we can from parishes who want to change their boundaries, the number of their members, their name or in some cases they may want to merge with an adjacent parish or parish meeting.  We are therefore encouraging parishes who want to form part of the review to come forward as soon as possible and no later than 18th August 2023 by emailing electoralservices@westnorthants.gov.uk

We will start preparing for the Community Governance Review (CGR) as soon as the ward boundaries are confirmed and will draw up proposed terms of reference for the review.   We are also happy to receive requests for those who know they want a change to the parish boundary between now and until 18^th August to enable us to properly consider their request to be included within the review.  

The proposed timetable is as follows:

National guidance on Community Governance Reviews is available to below.

• Guidance on community governance reviews

This requires councils to draw up and publish the terms of reference for reviews. To set out the terms of reference it is helpful to receive the views of local people. 

The guidance says:

 Local people may have already expressed views about what form of community governance they would like for their area, and principal councils should tailor their terms of reference to reflect those views on a range of local issues. Ultimately, the recommendations made in a community governance review ought to bring about improved community engagement, better local democracy and result in more effective and convenient delivery of local services.

The guidance also encourages Councils to carry out a full review of Community Governance periodically: 

In the interests of effective governance, the principal council should consider the benefits of undertaking a review of the whole of its area in one go, rather than carrying out small scale reviews in a piecemeal fashion of two or three areas. 

The Council is therefore keen to ensure that the review that it conducts takes into account as many of the views of residents and parishes as possible when it draws up the terms of reference and we need those views to be provided to us by 18^th August at the latest. 

Parishes and residents are therefore encouraged to come forward with their views in relation to: (for example)  

• Where there are any parish meetings which should be incorporated into a parish council. 

• Where there are parish councils that should merge with another parish council or parish meeting.
• Where there are changes to existing boundaries of the parish to better reflect local communities, particularly in areas where there has been housing development. 
• Where there are changes to the name of a parish council to better reflect the community it represents.

What is not within the scope of this review:

• Ward boundaries of the Principal Council
• Parliamentary boundaries
• The conduct or membership of individual parish councils or meetings. 

Parishes and residents are encouraged to contact us with their views via email below.

electoralservices@westnorthants.gov.uk 

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.

Views to be registered by 18 August 2023